Sunday, 10/28/12 to Saturday, 11/3/12

I ran 3 times this week, 18.45 miles.
During the month of October, I ran 53.41 miles, 17 runs in 31 day, 3.1 miles/run.
So far in 2012, I have run 1053.46 miles, 177 runs in 304 days, 6.0 miles/run.
I have about 90 miles to run before I set a year mileage record.

Sunday, 10/28/12: Rest day ...

I felt like such a slug all day. I read Facebook posts about people that ran down in Mendon Ponds Park at 8AM and others who did the Dirt Cheap Stage Race preview run at 9AM and 10:30AM. I should have set my alarm, got my sorry ass out of bed and gotten out on the trails ... but I didn't and slept in until 10AM. But ... Christine and I made do instead ... I fixed her breakfast in bed, then we read the Sunday Democrat and Chronicle. Hey, I was kind of sore from yesterday's Pumpkins in the Park 5K so ... it was all good. But still ...

The Weather Channel was in full end of the world mode with Hurricane Sandy expected to hit New Jersey dead on Monday evening. The forecast models have it hitting Syracuse by Wednesday.

Monday, 10/29/12: Another rest day.

The rain started around noon with a light rain. By the end of the work day, I thought I was a wise idea to stay in for the evening. Christine cooked up spare ribs so ... we stayed in and enjoyed supper while we listened to the rain and wind against the apartment windows. Hurricane Sandy, packing 90mph winds and a full moon driven storm surge, made landfall just south of Atlantic City, New Jersey around 8PM. I actually went to bed at 10PM to try to get a good rest before tomorrow's physical therapy.

Tuesday, 10/30/12: Physical therapy in the morning and a 5 mile run in the evening

First, physical therapy sucked! I just couldn't get my right achilles moving smoothly so every exercise was a chore and hurt besides. I would say the pain was a 4 out of 10. When I walked during the day, I was not comfortable. I limped whenever I started to walk and then the discomfort never went away even when my right achilles had warmed up. I was like a half second slow on my right side when I walked.

Hurricane Sandy wrecked devestation on New York City and the eastern seaboard during the night and then disappeared into Pennsylvania. All upstate New York got was rain and wind which knocked about 10% of RG&E's customers out of power. Runners were asking ... will the NYC Marathon be held on Sunday?

Garmin Connect Activity for Around the block at RTP-B6

Anyway, I had my running gear with me so I was going to run. It was still daylight after work so I decided to run when I was. If I drove anywhere it would have been near dark by the time I got there. The result was the same ... my right achilles never really warmed up. I felt the discomfort with every right footfall. I had to just tell myself to keep running ... I ruled my run not my right achilles. I did a nice, easy, but uncomfortable 5 miles around the Rochester Tech Park, 8:45 pace, and got my running endorphins. And yes, I am signed up for the Mendon Ponds 20K Train Run on Saturday. Am I stupid? Probably ... but I am still running it.

Wednesday, 10/31/12 through Friday, 11/2/12: Rest days

Just your usual rest days. I tryied to do my physical therapy ... not always succeeding but I tried. The days just seem to run together without a run to break them up. What was left of Sandy managed to get lost in Pennsylvania and caused days of clouds, a bit of rain and wind ... nothing too exciting. The NYC Marathon was cancelled on Friday afternoon after it became a divisive issue among New Yorkers who were suffering without adequate power, food or water.

Saturday, 11/3/12: 1 mile and 12.45 miles

My right achilles felt kind of OK on Friday so I was hopeful about my attempt at the Mendon Ponds 20K. The weather dawned a battleship gray, 38F ... typical for any race in upstate NY in November. My darling Christine and I made it down to Mendon Ponds Park around 9:05AM and luckily got a parking spot about 200 yards from the start. The 50K race, 5 loops of a 10K loop, had already started at 8AM.

Garmin Connect Activity for Warmup before the Mendon Ponds 20K
I put in a nice and easy 1 mile warmup at 8:51 pace to get ready. My right achilles was a nag and a bit tight.



Well ... this year's Mendon Ponds 20K started without me. I got back to the car from my warmup, got my gear and headed to the start at 9:28AM and everyone was already gone. So I just stashed my gear, watered up, took off my Brooks Nightlife jacket and headed out about an estimated 5 minutes late. It was my fault. I cut my preparation too close.

So ... I basically gave everyone in the 5K, 10K and 20K a headstart. Plus I didn't turn on my Garmin for a tenth of a mile as I headed out to track a lot of them down. I did say "Hi" to almost everyone that I passed. I felt pretty good on the first loop. I was dressed perfectly for the weather: CW-X tights, a black long sleeve tech, my Brooks Racing Team short sleeve tech, heavy running gloves and Christine's red/black ear warmer. The course was a bit muddy with leaves covering some of the roots and rocks. The weather itself was very variable: a mixture of light snow, light mist, sun and wind ... sometimes within five minutes of each other. My 1st loop split was 1:08:05 according to the official timing, my timing had 1:03-ish. I spent a couple of minutes in transition to get some water, a Gu and a Gel before heading back out.

Loop 1 ... my sleeves are down.

The second loop was more of the same with a lot fewer runners since the 5K and 10K runners were done. I thought it got a bit warmer for a couple of minutes ... but that soon passed as more light snow, light rain and wind put that notion out of my head. My left hip started to hurt around mile 9. I gave a couple seconds of thought to walking it in ... but I decided to walk the hills if I had to and find a nice and easy but slower run pace to run the flats and downs that didn't hurt too much. I am sure that my left hip pain was due to compensation for my right achilles that was giving me a bit of trouble but not as much as I expected. I continued onward. There were quite a few people on the trails that I kept seeing: a group of 20 or so men, a group of Cub Scouts and their leaders, the usual dog walkers with their dogs and three military types with heavy packs. I got to the last downhill and headed in to the finish. I could hear Christine yelling out as I came in at 2:22:13, a 2nd loop of 1:14:09. My Garmin had my total elapsed time of 2:16:45. I figure that I wasted a minute at 9:20 pace for 0.1 mile before I turned on my Garmin so my unofficial time was 2:17:45 ... about a 4:30 difference.

Officially, I did OK. I was 27th out of 41, link here. I was11th out of 15 in my M50-59 age group, link here. The other races were well represented:. the 5K had 19, the 10K had 63 and the 50K had 52 with 20 DNFs. The Grocery Run 5K in downtown Rochester had 910 runners. Meanwhile, several Rochester runners ran the Hamilton Marathon up in Canada and Jim McLaughlin became an Ironman again in 11:34 down at the Ironman Panama City. I tracked his progress from the comfort of our leather couch, link here.

Christine and I spent a lot of time in the East Lodge warming up, reviving and eating bagels with peanut butter and coffee. My left hip hurt quite a bit whenever I moved. We saw Tina P come in from her 20K looking a bit white-faced. So we made sure we got her some soup so she could revive a bit.

I ambled to the car and Christine drove back to our apartment. Later, a hot bath seemed to work wonders on my left hip along along with some pizza and coffee. We had a late supper of salmon ... tasty. My darling Christine takes care of me just like I do her! All in all, a great day! The Dirt Cheap Stage Race with 3 races of 3, 5 and 11 miles over 2 days next weekend beckons!